#teledoc

Executive investments: Why Teladoc is a winning healthtech business

Following its acquisition of multibagger Livongo which deals with diabetes, Teledoc (#TDOC) is now on track to continue a substantially bigger growth path. With its footprint already strongly entrenched in the US, it has now only begun…

What is WI TeleHealth Services?

Wisconsin TeleHealth Services, or telemedicine, is a way for older adults to receive medical care remotely using a digital device like a smartphone or computer. Telehealth can be a convenient and cost-effective way for older adults to receive care.

It can also help those with mobility or transportation limitations who may have difficulty getting to a doctor's office.

Telehealth can be used for a variety of care, including:

Lab test or x-ray results Mental health treatment Recurring conditions like migraines or urinary tract infections Skin conditions Prescription management Urgent care issues like colds, coughs, and stomach aches

During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has been used in both home and long-term care settings. In long-term care settings, telehealth has been used to provide collaborative support for getting advice from multiple specialists.

Telehealth can also help reduce caregiver burnout. Caregivers don't have to drive patients to and from in-person appointments, which frees them up to attend to other responsibilities.

To use telehealth, seniors can:

Provide access to a device Make a virtual appointment in the doctor's online patient portal or app Practice online safety Prepare for a medical exam. Pick up medications. Provide assistive technology.

The sudden lockdown enforced on billions of people worldwide to combat the COVID-19 pandemic has created a crisis in health care access. Millions struggle with disrupted routine and health care needs, and have been postponing doctor visits, fearing exposure to the extremely infectious virus. That’s where telemedicine has helped fill the gap between the doctor and the patient. But what is telemedicine?

Telemedicine

Telemedicine refers to a wide spectrum of the latest technologies and tactics used to remotely deliver virtual medical and health services. Recently, it has been announced that medical practitioners can utilize available non-public facing video platforms used 'in good faith' to connect with their patients and- that the overarching privacy rules laid down by the HIPAA regulations will be relaxed temporarily.

How does it work?

Telemedicine takes the entire process of seeing a doctor into a virtual environment. Patients do not have the front desk or physical resources to confirm their appointment. Alternatively, they'll schedule their appointment online and get a connection to a video or audio call via email or SMS.

There are three ways in which patients can meet their doctors: synchronous (or live video), asynchronous, and remote patient monitoring (RPM). Beyond this, the public can also take advantage of cell phone networks to receive healthcare care.

Is telemedicine the future of medicine?

Telemedicine is not a very new thing. Numerous caregivers have used telemedicine in various ways to support patients who are elderly, immobile, remotely located, or disable. Through telemedicine, people can save travel, even in normal times and avoid skipping workdays or calling in sick to go to the doctor’s office.

Telemedicine services will also be of tremendous help to the less mobile patients or patients recovering from invasive surgeries and going through long rest and recovery periods. In fact, it is better than attending any hospital at any time as it reduces your risk of getting accidental germ exposure.

With its potential to offer exposure free or inexpensive care to remote locations, make quality care accessible almost 24/7, reduce crowding at medical facilities, and reduce travel, one can genuinely see telemedicine services assuming becoming more important even after the pandemic.

CityDoc is a leader in telemedicine visits in North Texas and we are here for you. We provide affordable health care as an in-network provider for most insurance plans. If you're without insurance, our easy self-pay pricing will go easy on the wallet.

Many people suffer from conditions that require long term medication, in these cases, telemedicine services are some of the best contributions technology has ever provided. Prescription-filling laws still require pharmacies to request written prescriptions from certified physicians before certain medicines can be dispensed.

As such, numerous patients nevertheless have to make their usual visits to their doctors just to renew their prescriptions. This is a challenging and costly affair, especially for those who suffer from long term conditions that are non-emergent but still require prescriptions for their medication.

Patients who have lifestyle-related conditions such as high cholesterol, diabetes, asthma, and high blood pressure tend to fall into this category. Their situations can be intensified when their prescriptions expire, and they cannot visit their doctors because of any emergencies (especially with the current state of the world), traveling, or out of town. Missed visits to their doctors may cause the suspension of their daily medicine and can lead to dangerous consequences.

Telemedicine services are similar to family practitioners in that they are certified, and state licensed. They give valuable and affordable medical consultations to patients on the phone or online. This eliminates time wasted waiting in a physician's office and saves patients from paying costly doctor’s fees.

Patients can seek medical consultations through telemedicine services when in unwarranted situations or even in the comfort of their own houses. Through telemedicine services, doctors can fill out online prescriptions that can be ordered online and delivered to the patient's address. Hence the dreaded visit to the physician every time a patient's prescription expires can now be a thing of the past.

Telemedicine services are the perfect solution for patients who suffer from non-emergent conditions such as allergies, common cold, insect bites, sore throat, acne, arthritis, poison ivy, ear or eye infections, and itchy skin or rashes.

Telemedicine services and online prescriptions can significantly reduce a patient's healthcare bills. As doctors become further accessible and affordable, healthcare standards inevitably increase when patients who experience from non-emergent ailments are more likely to seek medical consultation and receive quality treatment and timely prescriptions that are effective and safe.

Urgent Care Web Check-in System For Easy Bookings And Telemedicine. Book an appointment from your home, get in-line and update your personal and insurance information from your smartphone. We are requesting all our patients with a cough, fever, shortness of breath, sore throat, and diarrhea to please book a telemedicine visit. 

If you are like us, you might occasionally forget what it was like before we had high-speed internet. Though most of us have only had broadband in our homes for five years (10 tops), our lives have been transformed, allowing us to manage our social activities, finances, watch TV, listen to music, and even read books online. 

Nevertheless, though, it has been well established that differences in high-speed access have increased the learning divide between high-and low-income students. A similar type of connectivity gap exists with healthcare access in semi-urban and rural America and calling it a crisis is no overstatement.

For urban and suburbanites, we take for granted that we almost always have a pool of high-quality doctors and specialists within a few minutes' drives. Not the case in America's semi-urban and rural areas, where the primary care providers are in very short supply, and certain specialists are simply unavailable.

Fortunately, the government has plans to help close the gap and bring broadband to rural health care facilities for folks who live in remote areas. This remote healthcare initiative would include diagnostic telehealth services, too. Under the proposal, the FCC will ensure $400 million to annually pay for 85 percent of infrastructure costs to extend remote healthcare by developing broadband connectivity in rural areas and 50 percent of the recurring monthly charges for accessing the services.

This initiative will help bridge the healthcare divide in so many ways, like enabling patients to email their X-ray images to the top radiologists, speak face-to-face with a credentialed psychologist and address the majority of primary care needs from the privacy of their home.